Where the Kidd class fits before Ticonderoga

Where does the Kidd class fit in surface-combatant development before Ticonderoga?

It was a parallel Spruance-hull missile-destroyer branch built for Iran and later absorbed by the US Navy, showing another way to arm the shared hull family.

The Kidd class belongs beside the development that led to Ticonderoga, although it was a parallel branch rather than a direct variant. Critics had already regarded the Spruance hull as underarmed for its size, and the four missile-equipped ships ordered by Iran showed how much more combat power that hull family could carry. Their missile fit drew on upgrades used by major US anti-aircraft ships. The fall of the Shah prevented delivery, turning them into an unexpected US Navy acquisition. This lineage joins export requirements, an existing destroyer hull, and established missile programmes without making Kidd a Ticonderoga prototype.